Courting a reversal BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 12/09/2010

Courting a reversal

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

12/09/2010

The Office of the Ombudsman has again lived up to its checkered reputation of being oh so predictable in so far as cases filed against officials of the Arroyo administration.

To paraphrase the words of a respected colleague, their decision to clear seven officials of the controversial Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) over corruption issues “does not surprise anyone.”

Just recently, the Ombudsman junked a misconduct complaint filed by developer R-II Builders against said HGC brass — Gonzalo Bongolan, president; Elmer Cadano, EVP; Melinda Adriano, VP; Rafael de los Santos, VP; Corazon Corpuz, VP; Danilo Javier, VP; and Jimmy Sarona, VP – for selling two parcels of land to La Paz Milling Corp. at the grossly undervalued price of P390 million when it could have allegedly easily fetched around P700 million, a transaction viewed as grossly disadvantageous to the government.

What totally astounds is the fact that it took the Ombudsman less than a year to dispose of the HGC case which is tantamount to warp speed as far as it is concerned. The Ombudsman’s Office is actually famous for dragging its feet in the resolution of cases involving high-profile GMA officials, lasting years even.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101209com4.html